by Melissa Keith

Woodmere Stealdeal’s last appearance at Woodbine Mohawk Park was a fourth-place finish behind Powertrain in a Sept. 15, 2023 qualifier. He paced a personal 1:54.1s mile, with a :26.4 last panel, but never resurfaced in the winter WMP races where he reached preferred status in 2022 and 2023. With no charted mile since his last qualifier, the absence of the popular pacer was raising questions on social media: Where was Woodmere Stealdeal (p, 5, 1:48.4s; $284,188)? When, if ever, would he be back at Mohawk?

Camille Brundle provided an update this week. Her father, Frank Brundle of East Garafaxa, ON, shares ownership of Woodmere Stealdeal with the gelding’s original owner, Robert Sumarah of Halifax, NS. 

“Back in August, [Woodmere Stealdeal] couldn’t go to the Gold Cup and Saucer [at Red Shores Charlottetown],” she told HRU. “He actually ended up having a fracture in a sesamoid bone in his back leg, that he ended up needing surgery on. He was going good, and then all of a sudden, he was kind of ‘off’ and then super-sore. It just kept getting worse and worse.”

X-rays revealed a fracture.

“They showed that it was there for quite a while,” said Camille. “Longer than the vet would have liked obviously, but he’s the kind of horse that’s very hardy and pushes through a lot of things, so when he started to show that he was in pain, we noticed right away.”

After a September surgery at Ontario Equine Hospital, in Mississauga, ON, the gelding nicknamed “Woody,” returned home to East Garafaxa, ON for a gradual recovery. At the end of January, he moved to the nearby farm where his regular driver, Jonathan Drury, is based.

On March 13, there was positive news from McKee-Pownall Equine Services.

“He’s got the green light now, and he’s started back training coming up on three weeks ago,” said Camille. 

Camille is a hands-on horsewoman who works with the six broodmares living on her family’s farm, as well as other horses residing there. Woodmere Stealdeal’s recovery timeline briefly paralleled her own: When she broke her own ankle, she kept hand-walking him despite the cast on her foot.

“I live right above the barn at my dad’s farm, so when [Woodmere Stealdeal] came here the next day after surgery, he was on stall rest for six weeks,” said Camille. “At first, it was very difficult for him, because he went from training and racing and jogging all the time, to being stuck in a square, not able to go out.

“We slowly increased him, and we would go for five-minute walks for a week straight, and then 10-minute walks, 15-, 20-minute walks. When he started getting up to 30-minute walks twice a day, his muscles were going and he was doing good. He got some shockwave treatment, which was really awesome and benefited him a lot.”

The Brundles did not have a small turnout paddock or round pen, just larger 1-to-2-acre fields, so they asked Drury about turning out Woodmere Stealdeal at his farm, which also features a swimming pool. “He’s been working with him there ever since,” said Camille.

The 6-year-old pacer had assessments with the nearby veterinary clinic, getting updates every six weeks of his recovery.

Camille’s career trajectory coincidentally developed alongside her favorite racehorse’s veterinary treatment. She worked as an animal care attendant (ACA) at the very facility where he had arthroscopic procedures performed.

“Ironically, I started working at Ontario Equine Hospital two months before Woodmere Stealdeal was going there for surgery,” she said. “I was there when he had the procedure done, and I got to learn a lot of medical knowledge from working there. It was an amazing experience. Dr. Orlaith Cleary did the surgery. She’s so talented and I learned so much from her. I was able to put… everything they taught me there into providing better care for him here, and ‘Stealdeal’ taught me a lot about relaxing a little bit more, myself, and not being so overprotective.”

Caring for horses comes naturally to Camille, from broodmares and babies, to her Warmblood hunter/jumper.

“I was born into this,” she said. “I breathe horses; I’ve been around them my entire life.”

The future Equine Nutrition student said she’s a believer in proactive breaks from racing, ideally before issues arise.

“Two summers ago, Stealdeal was here all summer and he came back and dominated,” Camille said. “Mystifying [p, 5, 1:49.1s; $212,685] had some time off, came back and won her first start back [April 7, 2023 at WMP]… She [was] in again [at WMP on March 30]… We’re so lucky we can give those horses the time off they need to better themselves so they can keep going.”

Camille said she knew it wasn’t always easy to provide racehorses with mini-vacations.

“It’s difficult in this industry, because there’s so many claiming horses, but I’m a firm believer that you have to give a horse time to be a horse again,” she said.

From her perspective, overseeing mares, foals, and her father’s retired “warhorse” Dovuto Hanover (p, 3, 1:48.4m; $680,825), Camille said she often jokes that her life is like a popular Canadian TV show about ranch life.

“It’s just me and my dog up here,” she said. “I feel like I’m living my ‘Heartland’ dream!”

Other young horses owned by her father are in training with Woodmere Stealdeal’s former conditioner at Truro Raceway, in Bible Hill, NS.

“We actually have a few horses out there right now…” she said. “Danny Romo is an amazing trainer and horseman.”

Woodmere Stealdeal was expected to be qualifying at WMP in the next month or two, according to Camille.

“There’s no timeline,” she said. “We want to make sure he’s 100 per cent before we send him on his way… We still do believe he has more potential and he’s not done racing yet.”